TraumaTherapy in NYC
Find Strength After Trauma
Past trauma can feel overwhelming, but support is available. Our trauma therapy provides a safe place to heal, whether you’re dealing with PTSD, anxiety, or lingering emotional stress.
Do past experiences influence how save or grounded you feel day to day?
Trauma isn’t always caused by one event. It can build over time through chronic stress, emotional neglect, or unsafe relationships. These experiences can affect your body, emotions, and sense of safety long after they’ve passed.
If you feel on edge, overwhelmed, disconnected, or stuck in survival mode, you’re not alone.
Our trauma-informed therapists support New Yorkers healing from childhood trauma, abuse, sexual assault, grief, medical trauma, and ongoing stress. You don’t need a diagnosis to reach out — if your past is affecting your life now, that’s enough.
Care is warm, affirming, culturally aware, and inclusive of all identities, including LGBTQ+ communities.
Do You Identify With These?
I feel unsafe, on edge, or constantly alert.
I feel emotionally numb, disconnected, or detached from my body.
I experience sudden mood swings or emotional overwhelm.
I have flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares.
I avoid people, places, or conversations that remind me of the past.
I struggle with shame, self-blame, or beliefs that I am too much or not enough.
I people-please, over-explain, or take care of others to feel safe.
I have trouble sleeping, feel chronically fatigued, or notice physical symptoms without a clear cause.
I feel broken, hopeless, or like something is wrong with me.
You don’t have to experience all of these to benefit from therapy. Your experience is valid even if it doesn’t look like someone else’s.
We provide virtual therapy for clients across New York. Contact us today to schedule your first session and begin your path toward feeling calm, supported, and confident in yourself.
Childhood Trauma: Experiences of neglect, abuse, or unsafe environments during formative years.
Single-Incident Trauma (PTSD): Acute traumatic events such as accidents, assaults, or sudden losses.
Complex Trauma (C-PTSD): Prolonged and repeated exposure to traumatic situations, often interpersonal in nature.
Sexual Trauma and Harassment: Unwanted sexual experiences and violations affecting individuals of any gender.
Vicarious Trauma: Indirect exposure to traumatic events through witnessing or hearing about them.
Types of Trauma we Treat:
Looking for a safe place to heal? Complete the form below to set up your free consultation and connect with care that truly supports you.
Start Trauma Therapy Today
No obligation. Just a supportive, 15‑minute call.
LEL Therapy is a virtual therapy practice that primarily serves clients in NY, with one of our therapists also licensed in FL, MA, NJ, and CT. To receive care through LEL Therapy, you must reside in one of these states. Although we’re an out-of-network provider, we make the process easy by issuing superbills you can send to your insurance for reimbursement.
It’s completely understandable to feel stuck or overwhelmed when past trauma resurfaces. I’ll help you build tools to steady your emotions, calm your body’s responses, and begin feeling safer and more grounded in your daily life.
Lauren Larkin, LMHC
Are you questioning if you need a trauma therapist?
You don’t need to “have it all together” or be in crisis to seek trauma therapy. If you’re wondering whether your experiences are “bad enough” to need help, trust that they are. Nothing is too small or too big to bring into therapy. Trauma therapy can be helpful if you feel stuck in the same painful patterns, if your body reacts before your mind understands why, if you feel emotionally numb or easily overwhelmed, if you long for closeness but also fear being hurt, or if you’re simply tired of surviving and want to feel safe living. If you think you might need trauma therapy, you probably do.
You don’t have to face this alone. Healing is possible, and we’re here to walk with you — at your pace.
Our Approach to Virtual Trauma Therapy in NYC
We use a relational, evidence-based, and compassionate approach that integrates the following:
Judith Herman’s Three-Phase Approach to Trauma Healing
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Before we ever unpack trauma, we make sure you feel safe and supported. This phase may include:
Creating a grounded, trusting therapeutic relationship
Developing safety strategies and coping tools
Reconnecting with your body’s cues through gentle awareness
You’ll never be pushed to share more than you’re ready for.
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When you’re ready, we’ll begin gently exploring your story and the impact it’s had on your life. This may involve:
Identifying and naming emotions and body sensations
Understanding where beliefs like “it was my fault” came from
Honoring what was lost, what you needed, and what was never given
Reprocessing difficult memories in a way that feels safe and contained
This phase isn’t about reliving trauma—it’s about reclaiming it.
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Healing doesn’t stop at understanding the past—it’s about learning how to live now with more peace and agency. Here we focus on:
Building supportive relationships and communities
Setting boundaries and protecting your nervous system
Exploring identity beyond survival methods
Finding meaning, empowerment, and self-trust
Trauma becomes part of your story—not the whole story.
Evidence-Based Modalities We Integrate Into Trauma Therapy
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you identify and reframe harmful thought patterns that developed in response to trauma, so you can respond to life with greater clarity and self-compassion.
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) supports you in building emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills—especially when emotions feel too big, too numb, or too hard to navigate alone.
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Narrative Therapy empowers you to rewrite the story you’ve been carrying, while honoring your pain, reclaiming your voice, and seeing your experiences through a lens of truth rather than shame.
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Mindfulness and Somatic Practices help you reconnect with your body in safe, gentle ways, using grounding, breathwork, and nervous-system awareness to reduce overwhelm and increase feelings of safety.
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Exposure and Trauma-Focused Therapy allows you to gradually and safely process traumatic memories or triggers, reducing their power over your daily life while helping your nervous system learn it is safe now.
Why Choose LEL Therapy?
At LEL Therapy, we do things differently. Our therapists show up as real humans. We are warm, honest, and deeply relational. We don’t show up as as blank slate therapists. Many of us have walked through our own versions of pain, which means we carry deep compassion for what it takes to heal. We combine lived experience with specialized training in trauma, offering care that is trauma-informed, feminist, culturally responsive, body-inclusive, and grounded in equity. You’ll never be asked to shrink yourself, perform, or “stay strong.” This is a space where you can be exactly where you are.
We tailor therapy to your needs, honoring your pace while prioritizing safety, trust, and emotional integrity. When helpful, we collaborate with medical providers, psychiatrists, and your wider support system to make sure your care is cohesive. At the heart of our work is this belief: post-traumatic stress can transform into post-traumatic growth.
You don’t have to go through this alone. We’re here to walk beside you every step of the way.
Ready to get started?
